Chapter 8

“You do know you can leave, right Jeff?”

Jeff opened up another fruit cup as he nodded to Kurt. He was sat on the floor of the dance studio of Pace with his legs crossed and half-done homework on his lap. “Don't worry about me, Kurt. I'm not leaving you here alone.”

Kurt looked into the mirror that lined the entirety of the front wall, waiting for the song to begin so he could rehearse once more.

“You honestly don't know when Liam will jump out of a fucking closet or something.”

Kurt smiled. “It's been over a week. He hasn't said anything to me about the slap incident…”

Jeff looked up as he finished eating, watching Kurt rehearse for his recital performance. Kurt was going to do great, that much was obvious, and the recruiters who were supposed to show would be floored by this kid.

“I was really scared he'd be out to get me or something.”

“I think he knows he was being an ass to you, Kurt.”

“Has that ever stopped Liam?” Kurt questioned.

He was right. Jeff didn't know a lot about the guy outside of what anyone else around here knew, but he didn't seem like the type to roll over and quit. Rumors had been going around school for a while now about him. Jeff heard he messed around with a few of the seniors, and while he didn't know how true that was, he knew for sure that Liam was interested in Kurt. Kids weren't so quick to gossip about it when Blaine was around because… let's be real… they knew better. But Jeff would always hear snippets of conversations when his friend wasn't in the vicinity. Besides, it wasn't exactly like Liam hadn't been forward in his … pursuit of Kurt.

“I guess you're right,” Jeff said. He watched Kurt dancing and smiled, thinking back to when he and Nick first mentioned that they went to Pace—the day that Blaine first introduced them to Kurt. He looked so excited and now he was doing what he'd wanted for so long. “Hey…. If Julliard and NYADA accepted you, which one would you go to?”

Kurt spun around and looked at his friend with a smile. “That all depends.”

“On?”

Kurt walked over to the music and turned it off. “Blaine applied to Julliard. If he gets in then I'll—well, when he does, I'll most likely hope to get into NYADA.”

Jeff tossed his rubbish into the trash bin before returning his focus to Kurt. “So you're saying that you wouldn't want to go to the same college as the love of your life? I think Blaine would feel the opposite…”

Kurt chuckled and looked back into the mirror that lined the front wall of the dance studio. It was weird to be in school alone with just one of his best friends but in a way it was nice. There weren't any snotty freshmen or arrogant sophomores running around being annoying brats. Yes, Kurt was aware that one day not long ago he was a snotty freshman, but the underclassmen at Pace were seriously entitled brats. Maybe they had a right to be since they'd been accepted here in the first place but a little humility never hurt anybody…

Even though Kurt wanted nothing more than to go home and get his weekend started, he knew he needed a little more rehearsal. Next week was the big day. In exactly 7 days, he'd know what he was made of in terms of becoming a performer and he was honestly afraid. No one needed to know that, though. He looked back at Jeff after hitting his triple pirouette perfectly.

“We're going to be living together, Jeff. We're going to be spending even more time together than we do now which is crazy to think about… sharing the bed, sharing the couch, sharing the bathroom… eating together. We'll be together all the time.”

Jeff nodded with a small smile, imagining that. That was indeed a lot of time to spend with someone, even a significant other, but Kurt and Blaine were practically one person. He wondered if he'd be single by the time he graduated high school at the rate he and his boyfriend were going.

“I want to give him space to have his own experiences at school and I'd like to give myself the same opportunity, you know?” Kurt continued. “I think that'd be healthy. And something about coming home to him is exciting.”

Jeff was quiet before his reply. One of the lights in the dance studio flickered and he looked up at it. “That does sound good.”

Kurt rubbed his palms over the front of his tights. He was beginning to get tired but he didn't want to stop just yet. Not until this routine was perfect. There was so much riding on this. “What's on your mind, sunshine?”

After a quick laugh, Jeff shook his head no. Talking about it probably wouldn't help because thinking about it nonstop hadn't done much of anything. And wow had he been thinking about it a lot. When it came down to things, Jeff knew there was nothing that anyone could say that'd change things, so he didn't even bother. “Sunshine is doing fine, Ohio.”

Kurt sighed, turning off the song playing and walking over to where Jeff was sitting. He pushed a few of the books out of the way and took a seat next to the blond, smiling at him and nudging his shoulder. Jeff smiled back, letting his head hit the wall with a thud. “You should tell me what's going on. I'm 95 percent sure that it has something to do with Nick, and once Blaine talks to Nick I'll probably hear about it anyway, so talk to me. Tell me.”

Jeff looked up at the ceiling and shook his head as Kurt started pushing and pulling him. He smiled. “Stop that. I love Nick, Kurt. …but I'm having second thoughts.”

Kurt tensed beside him and Jeff looked over at him.

“I know. Don't say anything. It's because of him and his daughter and the things I've heard him say to Ash, that's all. It's like, I love him, even though I haven't told him yet, but I do.”

“That sounds like big enough a reason not to give up on him, Jeff.”

“Who said anything about giving up on him?”

Kurt stared at his friend for a while longer. “I'm having second thoughts sounds a lot like something a person says before they walk away.”

“I'm not giving up on him, I'm just thinking about what's right for my boyfriend and his family.” Jeff shook his head, knowing Kurt wouldn't understand. “My biggest fear right now is getting my heart broken down the road because I tried to hold on to a relationship that I saw falling apart now.”

Kurt was quiet. He sat back and took in all that his friend was saying. It hurt a little after knowing how much the two of them cared for one another, and after seeing the two of them realize they wanted this after however many years later. He couldn't imagine Nick and Jeff not being together after all of that. “I think you're just enabling him to do something he's going to seriously regret, Jeff.” They looked at one another. “Think about it. If you give him permission to walk away for Brooklyn, then he's going to do it because it's easier than being in a relationship with a guy he loves. But when he's miserable without you he's going to realize how bad he screwed up—”

“All of this shouldn't fall back on me,” Jeff said. “Whether we stay together or not shouldn't be my problem when Nick is the one with all the issues.”

Kurt rubbed his neck. “I know. I'm in your corner with this.”

They sat quietly. Kurt stretched out his legs and arms, wondering just how much things would change by the time they got to New York. Over the summer he had this great vision that everyone would end up there and grow up together… become adults, start families, and everything would be perfect. Now he was realizing just how naïve his thought process could be. They hadn't even gotten out of the first half of the school year and already plans were backfiring. "Im sorry about all of this. Personally I think Nick loves you a lot, he just doesn't know how to handle everything on his plate.”

Jeff remained quiet. Kurt sighed. “We're 17, Jeffrey. 17 years-old. Maybe he's being an ass but his situation is a hard one to be in. And I think it's a lot easier for Blaine to get mad at him over all of this because—”

“Because if Brooklyn belonged to Blaine, you two would still be strong.” Jeff started to pack his bags. “I honestly believe that.”

Kurt shook his head no. “I don't know about that. A baby changes things and it's easy for me to say I'd behave a certain way, and for Blaine to say he'd handle the situation a certain way from the outside looking in—”

“Blaine wouldn't fuck up what he has with you for anyone, Kurt.”

“I'm not saying he would,” Kurt grabbed Jeff's hand, hoping he'd relax a little. “Hell, I had my moments of doubt coming into this and dating a playboy, but now no one can convince me that we're not growing old together. What I'm saying to you is we can't really judge how Blaine would handle this situation… comparing it to how Nick has been handling it. That's a hypothetical versus the real life situation and I don't think that's fair.”

Jeff smiled a bit and looked down at their hands. “You sound like your fucking dad. What do you recommend I do, Ohio?”

Kurt smiled. That was a compliment if he'd ever heard one. “As a Niff shipper, I want you to talk to him and work it out.” His friend laughed. “Seriously. Besides, you two are going to end up screwing like rabbits every chance you get so you may as well work it out.”

Jeff watched Kurt get up and go over to his things. “What're we doing tonight?”

“Well,” Kurt stretched. “My dad has a date with his lady and I have a free house. You guys can come over if you want.”

Jeff hummed. “Who's you guys?”

Kurt smirked. “I don't have that many friends. I meant you and your boyfriend.”

“My question is will Blaine want us around if you have a free house…”

Kurt laughed. “Ok, probably not. But come over anyway if you want to. I'm about to go get Blaine from the skate park if you want to ride along…”

Jeff stood up and grabbed his backpack. “Actually I'm going to bother David on campus. Maybe I can drag Nick along… so you can drive me to Nick's house.”

Shocking. Kurt smirked. They'd end up screwing and then arguing and then going to hang out with David. “I have no problem driving you to Nick's but promise me you'll talk to him about what's on your mind. I have a strong feeling he'd like to hear it.”

Jeff stretched his limbs, trying to have his tough guy face on but cracking a smile. Kurt laughed, pulling his sweat pants on over his dance tights.

…

“Seven days away until Preliminaries.”

Blaine stood at the top of the ramp and looked around the beach before sitting on his bike.

This kid was right. Seven more days until he competed at a higher level; against guys who were mostly in their 20s and had been doing this for years. Seven more days until he flew across the country and put it all on the line. He still had to prove himself to a lot of people—even more people now since he'd come out with Kurt and been labeled as a pansy. Blaine hadn't really talked about it with anyone but he did see the different articles and the blog comments about him. People had been writing a lot about his decision to go public with Kurt. He knew that he would be judged but he didn't think people would say the things they were saying.

People were assholes.

Blaine looked over to the kid beside him. He was a scrawny thing—couldn't be older than 12. The boy held onto his skateboard and looked down the ramp. “Are you afraid at all?” he asked.

Yes.

“Nope,” Blaine told him. “You've been in one competition, you've been in them all.”

There was one article that suggested his relationship with Kurt was fake. They implied that it was a means to get noticed… like a cry for attention. There was another article that pretty much bashed their relationship, saying Kurt was way too pretty for Blaine and a more successful gay would come along and snatch him up. They said Kurt was most likely a gold digger and would latch onto whomever was hot at the moment. Blaine hated that something as important to him as their relationship was being publicized in this way—this was something he wanted to be proud of. His relationship with Kurt was something he thought should be celebrated. They were in love for crying out loud. The fucked up thing about it was he knew if he was dating someone like Farrah, everyone would be supportive, while that relationship would be nothing but poison for him.

What sucked more than anything else was Blaine wanted to use this platform to make other LGBTQ kids proud of who they were. He'd talked to Kurt about it over the summer, after his Colony photo shoot. He was definitely proud of his relationship with Kurt. They were seventeen, had been together for half a year, and were looking forward to the years to come. Why wouldn't they be, right? They got along great, the sex was amazing, and their families adored one another. But what was being projected by blogs and other mediums was something negative… something that someone who was on the outside looking in might see and decide that the closet is a safer place than out in the open. That fucking sucked.

Blaine wanted to do something about it. This wasn't fair. Burt felt that arguing wouldn't solve anything and that the best thing to do was to move on. Blaine disagreed. He hated the thought of people walking all over them. What could some idiots on the Internet do anyway?

A horn honked as the 12 year-old skated down the ramp. Blaine turned to see who it was and smiled a bit when he noticed his car double parked just outside the skate park. He rode his bike down the ramp and turned to say goodbye to the kid who'd been following him around that evening.

“What was your name anyway, kid?”

The boy with the buzz cut stopped skating and gave Blaine a head nod. “Spencer.”

Blaine stood back up on his pedals. “Alright, Spencer. Stay out of trouble.”  

Kurt got out of the car, leaning against it with a smile as he saw his boyfriend rode up. “You looked like you were in deep thought… and you also made a friend.”

Blaine got off the bike and leant it against his Lexus so that he could go in for a hug. His arms wrapped around Kurt's waist and the boy kissed him. “I was thinking about some things.  Why are you so late?”

Kurt ended up kissing him again as he put his arms around the boy's shoulders. “I stayed at school for a little while with Jeff. Just came from taking him to Nick's place. His little sisters say hello.”

Blaine licked his lips and looked around the neighborhood. “I'll go over there this weekend. Want to go see Melody?”

Kurt smiled. “Of course I do. Let me take you to get something to eat first, baby.”

Blaine kissed him on the cheek and pulled away to put his bike on the rack by his trunk. Kurt got back in the driver's side and slammed the door.

…

They went to a Chinese restaurant on East Broadway. Kurt ordered something light simply because he was as tired as he was and Blaine ordered the orange flavored beef with lo mein and 2 egg rolls, simply because he was as hungry as he was.

It was hard for Blaine not to look around and wonder if anyone was giving the two of them weird looks as they held hands on top of the table. Kurt told him about what he wanted to try in improvisation class next week and Blaine stared at a man across the restaurant who wouldn't stop glaring at him, whispering things to the lady he was with.

“Are you listening to me, babe?”

Blaine looked at Kurt and reached for his lemonade. “I'm sorry.”

Kurt smiled. “What's wrong, love? Let me have it. I'm everyone's shrink today.”

“I don't need a shrink,” Blaine said with a laugh. “Don't worry about it. Tell me what you were saying.”

Kurt bit his lip teasingly as he held his chopsticks. “Hm. Ok. Forget that. How was your music class?”

Blaine grabbed one of Kurt's legs with his underneath the table. “I wrote a song about you.”

Kurt smirked. “Sure you did.”

“I did,” Blaine told him. “It's beautiful and I'm going to produce it myself and record it before this semester is over.”

Kurt smiled. “I can't wait to hear it, then. Just hope I don't find it like you,” he stopped, dropping his chopsticks and Blaine's hand so that he could do air quotes, “found the jacket I've been making for you.”

Blaine laughed, licking his lips and sitting back in the chair. “You should've known better than to tell me it was in there and then leave it there...”

With a smile, Kurt turned to look around the restaurant. “Fair enough.”

“We should walk down to the Museum of Art from here.”

“Walk?” Kurt shook his head no. “I just rehearsed my dance for the recital twelve times. My legs and feet are so mad at me.”

Blaine pouted a little as he finished up his food. “I'll give you a nice massage tonight.”

“You're wonderful.”

“Hey kid,” the man Blaine caught looking at him and Kurt earlier walked over to their table—his face still a little disgusted. “I saw you two in the paper.”

Kurt looked up at him and then to Blaine. He faced the man again as his boyfriend simply stared. “Can we help you?”

He nodded. “I just want you to know that I have no problem with you kids doing whatever gay stuff the kids do now… I know it's like a trend. Whatever. But I'm asking that you keep it away from this restaurant. This is a family establishment that I come to often and I don't want this homosexuality to be seen by my children.”

Blaine looked up at the man. He was probably in his late 40s and was dressed in an ‘I love Long Beach' t-shirt with faded jean shorts. Right now, he represented so many of the people that Blaine knew he'd have to deal with for the rest of his life, all because he sat here holding hands with Kurt. He represented a lot of the dickheads who spent their times on blogs talking shit about their relationship because they either weren't happy in their own lives are were just raised to hate what was different. Kurt began speaking and Blaine turned to look at him.

“My boyfriend and I have just as much of every right to be here as you and your family do. I'm not sure if you're aware but you have no right to kick us out of here. Our money is just as good as yours is.”

The man stared at Kurt for a moment before smiling. “I'm trying to be polite—”

“You've got 5 seconds to get away from us before I whip his cock out and start sucking it,” Blaine said. “Now think about whether or not you want your perfect, straight family to see that.”

Both the man and Kurt stared at Blaine like he'd lost his mind, though Kurt started to smirk after a second. Blaine went back to his meal and then looked up at the man.

“Five. Four. Three. T—”

“Fags,” he said, walking off and back in the direction he came. Kurt watched the man walk back over to the table he was at with a woman who had little to no reaction and two young kids—probably the ages of Nick's siblings. They both stared over at Kurt curiously and he shook his head a bit sadly before looking at Blaine.

Blaine was fuming.

“I'm going to ask for the bill so we can get out of here. Is that ok?”

He nodded, putting his hood on and grabbing the car keys from his pocket. “I'll go pull the car up front. You need to let me know if anyone tries anything.”

Kurt waved for the waiter as he smiled. “I'm a big boy, Blaine.”

“I'm serious.”

“So am I.”

His boyfriend looked across the restaurant to the balding asshole from earlier and then at Kurt before walking outside. The man was quiet but did glare back at Blaine as the waiter made his way over to Kurt.

“We're going to go. Can I have the bill?”

The waiter shook his head no and Kurt questioned how good his English was. Even if it was minimal, ‘the bill' should be a universal term. After all they did want to get paid, right?

“No…?” Kurt lifted his eyebrow.

The waiter pointed over to the front of the restaurant where two elderly women sat. “Jan and Liz. They pay for you.”

Kurt looked to be a bit confused as he observed the two women. They each had on a wedding band, but they ate quietly. Quietly but contently. Kurt heard his waiter saying something so he looked back over to him.

“Can I wrap for you?” he asked, gesturing to the food.

Kurt stood up and shook his head no. “It's fine. Thank you.” He walked towards the exit, focusing less on the man that'd asked them to leave because they were gay and more on the two women who'd paid for their meals. When he reached their table, the older one looked up and smiled.

“Oh. Hello young man…”

Kurt gave a shy smile as he noticed Blaine's car pulling up in front of the restaurant. “Hi. My name is Kurt… and I… thank you? For paying for us… you didn't have to do that.”

Both ladies smiled at him. “This is Liz and I'm Jan, her wife. We didn't have to pay but we wanted to, so don't you worry about it.”

Kurt smiled at them. “Your wife? Wow. How long have you two been together if you don't mind me asking?”

“As if our wrinkles don't tell our ages enough?” the blonde, Liz said. Kurt smiled as they laughed. “Fifteen years and going strong, but we've been married for two.”

“You've got a beautiful thing with that boy of yours,” Jan said. “I can tell he's a handful just by looking at him. But, “but aren't we all?”

Kurt nodded, a smile on his lips. “That's true. Thank you again for doing that. I guess you saw what happened…?”

This time it was Liz who spoke. She added crispy noodles to her soup and smiled. “Larry is an asshole. Always has been. You just focus on you and don't let anyone like him convince you that you're wrong.”

Kurt nodded again.

The horn honked from outside and Jan smiled at him. “Don't keep lover boy waiting, Kurt. You have a great evening.”

Kurt looked at the both of them again. After giving a small wave he started to walk away. “It was lovely meeting you both. Thanks again. For everything.”

The ladies smiled and so did Kurt. He walked over to his boyfriend's car and quickly got in next to him, strapping in and smiling at Blaine. Blaine was still a little ticked off as he put the car into drive and pulled out of the lot. “Everything ok?”

Kurt nodded. “Everything's great. A nice lesbian couple just paid for our meals. They're married.”

Blaine turned to look at him.

“Sweet women. I should've called you back inside to meet them.”

“I wasn't going back in there,” Blaine replied. Kurt looked at him.

“You don't have to be Mr. Grumpy Face, Blaine.” He noticed that his boyfriend was driving in the opposite direction of home, headed towards the ocean in fact. Kurt looked out of the window and counted the palm trees as they passed. “Where are we headed? It's getting late…”

Blaine shook his head and remained quiet for a while. “I just wanted to sit here and think.” They pulled up to the ocean and he put the car in park, sitting back and taking Kurt's hand. His boyfriend smiled at him as he undid his seatbelt.

“If you want to talk about whatever it is, I'm here. You know me.”

Blaine nodded at him. “Of course. Let's just watch the sunset, though. Then we can go be with Melody and get some rest.”

There was something up and it was painfully obvious. They held hands a little tighter before Kurt turned away and stared out at the ocean. No one else was around besides the owner of the car that had just driven by, and Kurt loved how serene this part of town was. They lived near the beach where everyone was all the time, but here it was just peaceful.

Kurt smiled.

Blaine looked over at him and moved in a little closer, kissing his cheek twice. “Why are you so happy? I hope the answer includes something to do with me.”

“The answer is always you,” Kurt said softly. “But I just remembered something that I had meant to tell you but didn't. It's silly, and I never replied to it, but I'm thinking I might. It could be fun.”

Blaine kissed him again and pulled back, looking at Kurt's faint freckles. “Oh? What is this it?”

Kurt looked from the water to his boyfriend's lips and smiled. “Are you familiar with Prestige Models? They're based in LA…”

Kurt smiled and nodded.

Blaine shook his head no as he moved his hand down Kurt's chest, lower to his stomach. “Nope. What about them?”

“I got a message from them,” Kurt told him with a smile. And then Blaine's hand was over his crotch and he smirked, wondering just what he thought he was doing. “Really?”

Blaine's eyebrow arched curiously as he looked at his boyfriend. “What did they say to you?”

Kurt moved Blaine's hand away and sat up a bit, reaching into his sweat pants pocket for his cell phone. “Here. I'll read the email out loud.”

His boyfriend was patient as he waited for Kurt to pull up the letter. He didn't even know what this was yet but he didn't exactly like the way it sounded. Not with everything that had been going on lately.

Kurt cleared his throat. “Dear Mr. Hummel,

My name is Andrew Darby and Im writing from Prestige Models in Los Angeles. You may be a bit confused about receiving this email but this was the best I could do, not having your phone number to get in contact with you. Facebook may not be the best place to do business, but this will have to do for now.

Prestige Models is a highly recommended agency located in the heart of Los Angeles, California. We provide models to a wide variety of designers such as Yves Saint Laurent, Gucci, Ralph Lauren, Abercrombie, and the list goes on.”

Blaine stared out the front of his vehicle at the calm, blue water. Kurt continued.

“My reasoning behind contacting you, Mr. Hummel, is to let you know that my agency is interested in making you one of our models. Weve seen you in the news lately with Blaine Anderson, and a face and body like yours isnt one we want to pass up. I dont know if youve modeled in the past, but this could be a great platform to get into other areas of work in the industry.

Please give us a call to let us know if you are interested. Signing up would mean you are contracted with us, but the benefits are more than worth it. To further discuss this, please call me at… then he give me the number and extension, yadda yadda,” Kurt said. “Thank you for your time, Andrew Darby, casting director.”

Kurt locked his phone and then looked at Blaine for a reaction. He didn't get much, though. Blaine was staring out the window, still quiet, but he tapped on the steering wheel a little as he sat there.

“So what do you think…?” Kurt finally asked.

Blaine licked his lips and then looked at Kurt. “What do you think?”

Kurt shrugged. “I don't know. Things are a little crazy now and I have a lot going on but a fashion model? That sounds like it could be a great gig. It's not like I want to turn down any of the awesome perks that comes with it either. You know how I feel about clothes.” He smiled.

The excitement on Kurt's face was evident, but still, Blaine shrugged. He looked out the window again. “I don't know if it's a good idea.”

“What?” Kurt questioned with a chuckle. “Why wouldn't it be?”

“Besides the fact that we've got a lot on our plates, think about what everyone's been saying about us and our relationship on those blogs,” Blaine began. “If they say things like that and then next thing you know, you're modeling, it's not going to look good.”

Kurt gave him a dubious look and his voice reflected his confusion. “What are you talking about? What are people saying?”

“I mean about you using my name to accomplish your goals, babe. I don't want people believing that.” Blaine started the car up and reached for his seatbelt. “And that Darby guy just wants to use you for a quick buck anyway.”

Kurt stared at him but Blaine wouldn't bother to look back. “Since when did it matter what a bunch of people in front of their computers thought about our relationship, Blaine? You and I know the truth and that's all that matters.”

Blaine put the vehicle in reverse and backed out of the spot. “Put your seatbelt on, baby.”

Kurt kept staring at him. “And he's only using me for a quick buck? Are you implying that I'm not good enough to do this? That they're only interested in me because of my affiliations with you and what it could get them?”

“Here we go,” Blaine smiled sarcastically as he pulled over at the side of the road. He finally turned to look at Kurt and they both kept their eyes on one another. “You asked me what I thought about it, Kurt. I think that I don't want you modeling because not only do we know nothing about the guy that sent you that message, but getting into an industry like that is an obligation you have to keep. They're probably going to make you sign contracts and all of this Pace shit you've worked so hard for—this school you damn near killed yourself to get into, what's going to become of that?”

Kurt scoffed and turned to face front, reaching for his seatbelt. “Don't make it sound like it's about that now. You think that if I were to get into modeling it would make you look like an idiot for being with me, right? Because people would talk and say I'm using you…”

Blaine rolled his eyes away and put the car in drive again, pulling off.

“That's fair. Maybe part of it is that you actually believe what people are saying—”

“That's bullshit.”

Kurt shook his head as he crossed his arms over his chest. He was quiet for the rest of the ride. Blaine was too.

…

Melody was falling back to sleep when Blaine walked through his front door. Kurt was closely behind him, and Clarissa held a finger to her lips as they closed the door behind themselves. “She's giving me a run for my money, I've gotta say.”

Kurt smiled at Blaine's mother as he walked over to the nook where she sat. Melody's fists were balled up and pressed in close to her face, and one of her socks were half on. He placed a quick kiss to Clarissa's cheek before fixing the sock over the infant's foot. “How are you?”

Clarissa smiled and looked up at him. “A bit hungry. A lot sleepy. But blessed, Kurt.”

Kurt felt Blaine standing on the other side of him as he looked down at Melody. “I can go and pick you up something to eat if you'd like?”

The woman shook her head no as she rocked her newborn slowly in her arms. Blaine kissed his mother in the hair and she smiled before he kissed Melody on the fist. “I've got some soup Cooper made for me earlier that my lovely Blaine will warm up for me, right?”

Blaine nodded his head yes and walked off to the kitchen. Kurt watched him, as did his mother. She looked at Kurt curiously, silently waiting for an answer. Of course, she didn't get one. Prompting was necessary. “You want to tell me what's up with him?”

Kurt shook his head as he looked down at Melody smiling in her sleep. The little girl was too beautiful for words. “We had a long past few hours, that's all. May I hold her for a little while?”

Clarissa chuckled softly. “Please.”

Kurt carefully took Melody from her mother's arms and cradled her securely, smiling as he walked over to the living room sofa. He rocked her back and forth and hummed softly. It was amazing being able to hold this little life in his arms…she was still so tiny, but the most precious thing he'd ever held.

Blaine felt his mother's presence entering the beach house kitchen before he'd ever heard her. He stopped stirring Cooper's random soup that he usually made with chicken and whatever he could find that looked healthy. Clarissa tiredly leant against the island and looked out at Kurt with Melody. She loved the open-concept kitchen—being able to be in there but see out into the rest of the first floor. Blaine turned around and looked at his mother for a while.

“I know you're going to ask, and I'm fine.”

Clarissa smiled as Blaine captured her focus. “Nope. I was just looking at your boyfriend holding your baby sister. He's a natural and I'm looking for a babysitter…”

Blaine stared out at Kurt too. The sight was a little bit too much for him, thinking about having a family with this man one day and all. “Kurt's probably going to be too busy for that but if you say it loud enough he'd consider dropping out of school.”

His mother laughed. Blaine could tell by the soft melody of what Kurt was humming, it was Love of the Loved by the Beatles. “How're you healing, ma?”

“I'm getting there,” Clarissa answered. “I've got to be back at work in 2 months so I'm trying to take it easy. Feeling good.”

After turning off the heat on the stove, Blaine grabbed a bowl and put some soup in there for his mother. “I hope you're getting rest…”

“I am, old man.” She smiled, and Blaine walked over with the bowl, placing it in front of her. “Your sister sleeps just enough for me to get a nice sized nap. She cares that much.”

“She takes after me.” Blaine kissed her cheek when she laughed. “Eat up. I'm going to check on those two.”

“Ok, sweetheart.”

So let it rain, Ill never care? 
Deep in your heart, Id still be there. 
And when Im there 
I see the love of the loved. 

Kurt sang softly as he held Melody. Her breaths were gentle and she would still smile a little every few minutes. It was adorable.

Blaine took a seat next to him with his bottle of water in hand. He was looking down at his little sister and Kurt smiled, humming now. “She has your ears, you know.”

Blaine nodded. “Sexy ears.”

Kurt smiled. “I'm going to get home, though. I'm feeling a bit tired and Diesel will want to go for a walk and I am dying for a shower.”

Blaine brushed his little sister's curls away from her forehead. “Yeah. I'll take you in a minute.”

Kurt nodded. He heard Blaine's phone go off and saw the reaction Melody had to it, flinching a bit in his arms and her eyes blinking open, but after a while she drifted right back to sleep.

“I'll put her in the bassinet.”

“Alright,” Blaine reached for his phone and read the message as Kurt got up.

From: Nick

Can you hang out at my place tonight? Unless you have plans with Kurt, then I'll catch up with you tomorrow.

Blaine heard Kurt saying goodbye to his mom and typed out a reply.

To: Nick

I'm going to drop Kurt off at home and then I'll be right over, bro. See u in a bit

…

The ride home was awkward, too. They weren't really talking and Kurt knew that they should eventually, because he had a lot more to say. But right now, they were both tired, and sleeping on it would be better than saying something they'd regretted and making matters worse.

Blaine pulled into Kurt's driveway and put the car in park. Kurt finished yawning and undid his seatbelt as the One Direction song went off. “Thank you, Blaine.” He turned around and grabbed his bag from the back seat and before he could tell his boyfriend he loved him, soft lips were pressed against his. Kurt smiled into it and laughed a bit when Blaine pulled away.

“Wow. Ok. Thanks for that too.”

Blaine licked his lips and grabbed Kurt's bag for him. “Let me walk you inside and say hey to Diesel.”

Kurt nodded.

A minute later, he had his front door unlocked. The sound of the dog's footsteps could be heard running from the back of the house and Blaine placed Kurt's bag on the floor as he bent down to greet his dog hello. Kurt smiled at the two of them, closing the door behind himself and turning on the wall lamp. “I told my dad he'd have no problem getting over that gate he put up.”

Blaine smiled. “That's my boy…you show Papa Bear who's the boss…” Diesel jumped on Blaine and Kurt shook his head as the two wrestled.

“I'll get his leash.”

“Just let him out in the backyard,” Blaine replied. “He can entertain himself. And I want to talk to you.”

Kurt rubbed his neck and nodded ok.

They both spent a little bit of time out back with Diesel, playing with the huge ball of energy before heading back inside. Blaine followed Kurt back inside to the living room, taking a seat on the couch. He put his feet on the coffee table and slouched back, tapping his feet together. Kurt took a seat towards the middle of the sofa after he checked the time and saw that it'd probably be another couple hours before his father returned home from his date with Amber. Tomorrow, he had plans with Blaze. Since things were getting serious and he was realizing that they'd probably be stepbrothers soon, Kurt demanded the kid neglect studying and come to Long Beach for the weekend. He looked at Blaine who seemed to be in his own little world and sighed

“What do you want to talk about, babe?”

Blaine turned his head to look at him. There was a staring contest before he finally gave a response. “I hate it when we're mad.”

Kurt nodded, rubbing his palms together. “Ditto.”

Blaine licked his lips out of habit before moving over on the couch, closer to Kurt, and leaning in to kiss his boyfriend. He parted his lips when Kurt moved in and met him half way, giving him permission to take things further. Instead, they pressed their lips together softly and Kurt let his eyes flutter closed for a while, enjoying the feel of it. Just like the first time, the hairs stood up on the back his neck.

Blaine pulled back and kissed along his jaw. “Make love to me, baby.”

Kurt smiled as he watched his boyfriend's hand lifting his shirt up, shaking his head no. “You said you wanted to talk. I'm not doing anything before we talk.”

“Why not?” Blaine asked him, pulling Kurt closer and finally running his hand up his abs and chest when the boy stopped resisting. Kurt looked over at Blaine beside him and leant in for a quick kiss, leaving it at that before it could get too heated.

“Because,” he said.  “If I do, then we're going to fuck this problem under the rug and I don't want that to happen. I want to talk about this…”

Blaine sighed and sat back. “I said what I said and I'm sorry, but I don't think you should do it.”

Kurt nodded. “Alright. That's fair, but I think it's a great opportunity and I'd like to do it.”

Blaine shook his head no. “I'm not on board with it, Kurt.”

“That's fine, but I'm not asking your permission.”

Blaine looked into the blue eyes staring at him as Kurt continued.

“It would be nice to have your support, but I want to talk to the guy and at least get a little more information. It's not fair that because some assholes think something that's not even remotely true, it would affect your support of me.”

Blaine nodded. “Alright. So my opinion and how I feel don't matter...”

Kurt shook his head, scooting away from him.

“I support you in everything else, but I don't feel good about this.”

“Why not?” Kurt asked him. “This doesn't make sense to me. If you'd gotten this opportunity, I'd be so happy for you. Yet with me…”

Blaine looked away.

“Is this because I'd be in the spotlight—probably? We don't even know that much yet. Are you trying to protect me from people saying something negative about me? I honestly don't care about that stuff anymore, Blaine—”

“I know you're strong enough to handle yourself—”

“Then what's the problem?”  

“I just don't fucking want you doing it,” Blaine said. The way he raised his voice elicited a look from Kurt that made Blaine roll his eyes away. “Fuck. Kurt… I don't want to share any more of you than I already have with the public. The little bit we gave them of us they tainted. I want you to respect that.”

Kurt sat there for a moment before kicking off his shoes. His boyfriend began to rub his face before exhaling into his hands. “Fine. Because some mean people we don't know feel negative about our relationship, I won't do anything that'd make you look stupid for dating me, Blaine. Forget I even brought it up.”

Blaine was still quiet, staring straight ahead at the blank television screen.

“And I don't think our relationship is tainted, but it's good to know you feel that way.” Kurt went to stand up, reaching for the remote. “I'm going to get in the shower. You can watch TV if you'd like.”

The TV came on and Kurt placed the remote back down on the coffee table. Blaine didn't even bother looking at it. He shook his head and stood up as well, grabbing his boyfriend's arms.

“Nick wants to hang out for the night so I'll be over there.”

Kurt was silent as he nodded. He didn't look Blaine's way as a Law & Order SVU rerun played on television. “Alright, Blaine.”

Blaine watched him a while longer before deciding that he didn't want to leave like this. He let go of Kurt's arms and instead moved his hands lower, untying the drawstring of the Pace sweatpants he wore. Kurt looked down at Blaine's hands.

“I love you, Kurt.”

His response was to look up and smile, leaning in to kiss Blaine quickly. “I love you, too. Tell Nick I said hi, okay?”

Blaine nodded, looking down at Kurt working on stepping out of his sweatpants. His dance uniform was on underneath—the tight black pair of leotards, and Blaine licked his lips, rather upset that he wasn't in the boy's dance class.

But of course Liam would get to see him like this every day.

“Eyes up here,” Kurt said teasingly. He kissed Blaine again when he looked up and grabbed him by the shoulders, about to lead him to the door. “Go be with your best friend. I have studying to do anyway.”

Blaine let Kurt push him about five steps before he stopped walking entirely. He moved his hand to Kurt's wrist and turned around, pulling him in close and wrapping both hands around the boy's waist. They walked backwards to the couch again and Kurt's eyebrows arched as a smirk covered his lips, Blaine's hand moving down to his waist.  “I guess my words always fall on deaf ears with you…”

Blaine buried his face in the crook of Kurt's neck as he stood pressed into him. The tights Kurt wore clung to his body and Blaine took his time exploring the smooth fabric covering his boyfriend's ass and thighs. “You must think I'm an asshole.”

Kurt bit his lip as Blaine grinded into him, feeling the boy's stiffening cock slide against his own half-hard one. He dropped back onto the sofa after stumbling over his shoes and Kurt let his hands fall beside him, watching Blaine drop to his knees. “Sometimes you can be. Right now you're just stubborn.”

Blaine unbuttoned Kurt's sweater and pushed up his t-shirt. As he kissed over the boy's navel, the salty taste of Kurt's skin lingered on Blaine's lips. He found his palms running flat up to the boy's chest and then down his body again; Kurt lifting his hips to help Blaine pull down his tights and underwear. With it getting dark outside, the faint light from the television and wall lamp at the door were the only light sources they had at all. Kurt watched Blaine pull his pants to mid-thigh range and start to kiss across his midsection. He bit his lip, running his fingers through messy curls.

“I still want you to fuck me, baby…”

Kurt looked down at him, sighing as Blaine started to kiss the length of his cock. He still wanted things too… like support, and for Blaine to be happy that someone would even think enough of him to offer such an opportunity. But we can't always get what we want.

Blaine started going down on Kurt right there on the sofa, on his knees, slow and deep like he knew Kurt loved it. His boyfriend was quiet, but the encouraging hands in the hair and small thrusts up said that he was into it. Blaine licked around the head and kissed down the vein for a moment, spreading Kurt's legs a little wide to play with his balls. That gave him a reaction—the tiniest ah from Kurt's parted lips, and he smiled while he cupped them, sucking him again.

“Fuck,” Kurt whispered, watching through the dim light as Blaine's head bobbed up and down in his lap. He placed both hands on the boy's shoulders and squeezed, letting his head fall back against the couch.

 “You know how tight I am, Kurt.” Blaine rolled Kurt's nuts in his hands as he said it. “Don't be stupid because you're upset with me. You know how hard you cum when you fuck me, Kurt.”

Kurt grabbed Blaine's wrist, moaning as he pulled the boy's hand away from his balls. If that continued, he'd definitely be coming a lot sooner than he wanted to.  “Take your pants off.”

Blaine lifted an eyebrow as Kurt stood up. He lost his balance a little and leant back into the coffee table as his boyfriend headed over to his book bag by the doorway, rifling through the backpack for something. Blaine stood up to his feet to watch, pulling his polo shirt off and tossing it to the floor. The room got much brighter after Kurt flicked on the living room light.

Kurt grabbed the lube he kept in his bag and adjusted his pants and underwear down to just beneath his ass. He was stroking himself lazily as he worked on opening the lubricant with his teeth. Blaine swallowed, looking at Kurt from head to toe. He stared at the tattoo on his collarbone for a while, and then at his cock; pink at the tip and long, his thumb running over the vein.

“You're still dressed.”

Blaine's fingers unsnapped his jeans, and he kicked off his sneakers before pushing the denim down to his knees. He watched Kurt rubbing the lube over his cock and licked his lips at the way Kurt threw his head back and sighed. Blaine touched himself for a moment as he stared. He looked around the living room, wondering where Kurt was going to fuck him.

“What time is your dad back?”

Kurt walked back over to the sofa, hand still on his cock. “He's not here now and you asked to be fucked. Get back on your knees.”

Blaine looked down at the carpeted floor before a hand was on his shoulder, urging him down. He dropped to his knees, pushing his jeans lower to around his shins as Kurt knelt down behind him, pressing two cool fingers to his entrance.

“Shit,” Blaine leant onto the coffee table and looked back at him before facing front again. Out the corner of his eye, he could see clear to the front door. Clear to the front door was where Burt could walk in at any given moment. If he walked in, he'd be able to see his son fucking his boyfriend on the living room floor. That would be a definite problem—“Oh…”

Kurt held onto Blaine's shoulder with one hand as he pushed the two digits in deep, curving them and stretching as best he could. After a few minutes, he added another finger and rubbed down Blaine's back, nice and slow. Blaine sighed, leaning on both his elbows. He arched his back as Kurt rubbed his prostate with the tip of his fingers, teasing it a little more each time. When Blaine started to beg, Kurt pulled his fingers out and lined up, his cock pressed against Blaine's hole, sliding in inch-by-inch.

Blaine was biting on his tongue when Kurt started to push in. He could feel his boyfriend's nails pressing into his rib cage as Kurt held him; Kurt's head thrown back and a chorus of fuck leaving his lips. Blaine didn't know what it was, but he definitely had a thing for Kurt being inside of him. Topping was great, no doubt, but this right here—having Kurt lose his mind as he tried to push in and moaning because Blaine was always so tight for him—this was what he loved. “God.”

Kurt was halfway inside when he felt Blaine tighten around him. Shit. He looked down at the boy bent over the table in front of him, watched Blaine's tight hole pucker as he pushed in the rest of the way, and exhaled as his toes curled. Blaine was mumbling and gripping the edge of the table as he tried to slide back onto Kurt's cock. After biting his lip, Kurt pulled back slowly and thrust in hard, fucking Blaine right there on the floor.

“Ah… fuck.”

The remote fell off the coffee table. Blaine's body slid forward, moving the table along with it. Kurt scratched his nails down the boy's back, resting his hands just at Blaine's waist when he began to thrust forward. In and out. Deeper and deeper. His cock would disappear inside of him and his eyes threatened to roll back every time he felt the heat squeezing the base of his cock, but he was just getting started.

Diesel made a noise outside that made Blaine jump up, but Kurt grabbed the nape of his neck and pushed him down again. “Hold onto the table, Blaine.”

“Fuck,” Blaine stopped leaning on his elbows to get up on his hands. He arched his back as Kurt pumped into him. The rug burn on his knees would be a bitch but the way every nerve ending on his body was on fire right now made him care a lot less about that. “Fuck. Fuck.”

Kurt dropped his hands down to his side and watched with a smile as he effortlessly moved in and out of Blaine. It always took a couple minutes to get him this open but once Kurt could fuck him this easily it was heaven. He put his hands on his own waist and grinded in, slowly then quickly, hard and deep. Blaine dropped onto his elbows again and Kurt shook his head, stopping completely.

“Don't stop,” Blaine said softly, reaching for his cock and holding it at the base. He rolled his hips against Kurt as the boy ran his hands up his back and to his shoulders. “Fuck me, love.”

Kurt buried his fingers in his boyfriend's hair and pulled until Blaine was leaning on his hands again. He licked his lips and stayed like that for a while. “Let's get up.”

Blaine looked back at Kurt as he cupped his balls. “Yeah.”

Kurt slowly pulled out and stood up. As he did so, he pushed his tights down a quarter of the way. Blaine was slow to his feet but stood up, wrapping a hand around Kurt's waist and pulling him close. He went in to kiss Kurt's lips and tippy-toed a bit, biting on the bottom one. Though he never admitted it aloud, Blaine knew his boyfriend had a thing for biting. The moans said it all.

Kurt slowly kissed him back before pushing Blaine down on the sofa. He bent over and pulled his jeans and boxers all the way off, dropping them on the floor somewhere and climbing on top of his boyfriend. Blaine smiled as he saw Kurt leaning in to kiss him, opening his mouth and gladly accepting the tongue that parted his lips immediately. They moaned softly and Blaine arched his body, wrapping his legs around Kurt's waist and pulling him in.

Kurt was a goner and he knew it. Sure, he was still upset and he felt he had right to be, but all he could focus on right now was the tight heat surrounding his cock and lighting every inch of him on fire. He pushed in further, bottoming out and making Blaine throw his head back. When the boy grabbed at the sofa for leverage, Kurt smirked, kissing Blaine's neck tattoo and lacing their fingers together. He thrust in and Blaine gasped—his head hitting the arm of the sofa.

“Fuck, yes.”

Blaine's grip around him tightened and Kurt could do nothing but bury himself deep inside his boyfriend. He had one hand squeezing Blaine's ass and the other holding the boy's hand, pinning it into the arm of the couch as he slid in deeper. God. And then again, deep, their breathing labored and his toes curled. Kurt pressed Blaine into the sofa and moved his hips back, his cock sliding out before he thrust in again. It was hard enough to make Blaine groan and to knock something off the table behind the couch.

“Fucking tight,” Kurt moaned into Blaine's ear. He bit the lobe and squeezed the boy's ass harder, fucking him slowly. “This is what you wanted, right?”

Blaine held Kurt's hand tightly, the other wrapped around his shoulders. He could do nothing but nod and moan and enjoy every bit of what was happening to him. Was it bad that he was already thinking about doing this again after he came? Because there was but so much longer he could last with Kurt hitting his prostate like that, and pressed against him so closely that the friction from his body rubbing against his cock was going to make him bust a nut between the both of their bodies.

Kurt began to move faster, a sign that he was close. Blaine scratched down his back as their tangled legs rubbed against one another's. Kurt slid his hand up Blaine's thigh and lifted one of them higher as he leant up on the couch, moving in and out to the rhythm of Blaine's quick breaths. “Oh fuck…” Kurt let go of Blaine's hand and moved it to his dick, stroking it lazily as he fucked the boy on the sofa. “Shit, Blaine. Shit.”

Blaine bit his fist as his toes curled in the air. Between Kurt's hand on his cock and his cock hitting his spot on every stroke, he knew he was about to cum and forget his fucking name. They both whined as Kurt sped up, smiling when he felt Blaine's stomach start to clench. “Come on, Blaine.”

“God,” Blaine arched his back and slapped at the side of the couch repeatedly, his legs shaking. He tried his best to hold on for at least two minutes. “It feels so good…”

Kurt stared at his lips. “Oh god, I know… oh god.” He closed his eyes for a moment as he felt himself get closer, thrusting in against Blaine's lovely ass four more times before pulling out. They both grabbed their own cocks and started jerking off, Kurt leaning over Blaine, the tips touching. “Yes….”

Blaine gasped, watching as his own cum covered the palm and fingers of his left hand. He was struggling to stay awake at this point. “Fuuckkk….” He kept stroking himself even though his body shook and he was getting rather oversensitive. “Yes…”

Kurt watched his seed fall all over Blaine's abs and then rubbed the tip of his cock against the boy's hip, all while struggling to catch his breath. He licked his lips and patted him on the waist. “Fuck, Blaine.”

Blaine smiled, looking down at himself. They'd barely undressed all the way. “Fuck is right.”

Kurt stood up, though his legs were weak and it wasn't hard to see that. Blaine watched as he gathered his shoes and clothing, gesturing to the stairs. “I'm going to go get in the shower.”

Blaine nodded, trying to sit up so he could start grabbing his things. “Can I at least get a cloth or something to clean up with? You came on me and my hand's a mess, too.”

Kurt waved goodbye. “You know where the bathroom is down here.”

Blaine watched his boyfriend disappear upstairs as he shook his head. He smiled to himself and then winced, forcing himself to get up, clean up, and then leave.”

…

“Why are your knees so red? They're kind of bruised, bro…”

Blaine put the PS3 controller down and looked at his legs, rubbing them a bit. Nick sat across the room on a beanbag chair, a bowl of popcorn between their legs.

“Ow,” Blaine mumbled.

They had been together for about an hour now. After Blaine left Kurt's place, he went back home to shower, took the Melody night-shift until Cooper came home from his commercial shoot, and then headed over to Nick's side of town. It was good to be back here, too. Even though his best friend's little sisters were annoying, he missed spending time over here. His dad would sometimes have to remind him that he had his own home. Blaine smiled at the memory. “Kurt decided he was going to screw me on the floor and I got rug burn.”

Nick smiled. “Sweet.”

“We kind of argued over something stupid tonight.” Blaine picked up the remote control and pressed play on the game. There was something about Call of Duty that was therapeutic, which was ironic… but still. “Well, it wasn't stupid but it wasn't worth fighting over, I don't think.”

Nick ate a little bit more popcorn even though he was full. After eating what Jeff left him of the pizza and then eating Jeff, he didn't have much of an appetite. But stress did this to him. He guessed stress did it to most people. “If you want to talk about it, I'm right over here. Five feet across the room...”

Talking. Blaine hated talking. He dangled his legs over the edge of the bed as he started a new online game. “After seeing pictures of Kurt and me in the paper… or online, somewhere, I don't know,” Blaine began, mumbling tiredly. “This guy from Prestige Models in LA emailed him to offer him a modeling contract.”

Nick watched Blaine respawn on the video game as he nodded, looking over at his friend. "Prestige Models… they're pretty big. That's great. So is he doing it?” Nick grabbed some more popcorn. “We both know Kurt is pretty freaking gorgeous.”

“He's not doing it,” Blaine answered. “I told him I'm not ok with it, and while he argued with me at first, I think he respects where I stand.”

Nick waited for the rest of it. There had to be more. Anyone with a pulse could tell an offer like that wouldn't be something Kurt Fashion Trend Hummel would refuse. He shouldn't have to, right? “Wait… you told him he couldn't do it? Like you're his father or something?”

Blaine mashed buttons on the controller, killing someone and running into the building. “No. Like I'm his boyfriend who doesn't think it's a good idea.”

“Why isn't it?”

“Right now,” Blaine began. “Right now I'm just not at the stage where I want us both to be in the public spotlight. Think about it… all I did was take Kurt out and introduce him to the world as my boyfriend for what… an hour and a half? That hour and a half of being out and proud with Kurt earned us a multitude of assholes online… shit, this gun is shit.” He started mashing buttons harder and chewed a little on his gum. “We have so many haters saying things like ‘Kurt's using me' and ‘Kurt's going to climb the ladder and find someone better' or ‘I'm using Kurt for the publicity' to help with my career. Do you think I want him in the public anymore? I never thought…” Blaine trailed off, staring at the screen and firing bullets. Nick looked away from him and at the video game. “I never thought I'd regret outing us for a second, but maybe staying hidden and keeping what we had to ourselves wouldn't have been a terrible idea. He's so precious to me.”

Nick placed his popcorn bowl beside him and sat back on the beanbag chair. He ran a hand through his dark hair and thought about all of that. “Man.”

Blaine finished the match and laid back on the bed, gazing up at the ceiling. “I know.”

“Can I be honest with you?”

“Why the hell not?” Blaine said, smiling. “You always are, aren't you?”

Nick stood up and pulled off his shirt. “Well I think that you're a little bit insecure. On top of that, you're living in a fairy tale land.”

There wasn't a response to that as Nick tossed his shirt over to a messy pile of clothes on the floor. He sat down on the bed and Blaine rubbed his face, trying to stay awake. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“You have been my friend for… what? Ten years?”

Blaine didn't answer, simply turning to look at him. Nick folded his legs on the bed and stared back.

“In those 10 years, I've never known you to care what anyone thinks about you. Well, except for Cooper Sr. and sometimes Donnie.”

“I care what people have to say about my boyfriend.”

“Kurt hardly cares,” Nick said. “You care, though. And the question is why?” he pushed Blaine over so he could grab his remote and then turned the video game off. “Is it because you believe there's some truth in what they're saying?”

“Fuck no.”

“Then what is it?”

Blaine shook his head and sat up, staring at the wall straight ahead. “This is bullshit, Nick. I'm not about to get preached at by you of all people.”

Nick smiled as he looked for something to watch on TV. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

Blaine grabbed his phone and shook his head. Part of him didn't want to but he did it anyway, scrolling through his contacts and clicking on his boyfriend's name. There were about 15 heart Emojis in front of Kurt's name and Cooper always teased him for it. “I don't even know if you and Jeff are together or if you're just fuck buddies.”

To: Kurt

Hey. I know it's late but are you up?

Nick turned on Shameless and laid down. “I think you're bringing up Jeff and me because you know that you're in the wrong. Besides,” he stretched out on the bed, “I told Jeff I fucked up and that I want to make things work with him. He doesn't believe me but I'm working on convincing him of that.”

Blaine looked back at him.

“Want to see the new pic of Brooklyn that Ash sent me today?”

“Yeah,” Blaine said, taking the extended LG phone from Nick. He looked at it and laughed a little, shaking his head. “Shit. It looks like you spit her out, she's damn near your twin.”

Nick smiled proudly. “We're working on getting her here for the holiday and I want Jeff to spend some time with her. With the both of us.”

Blaine nodded, his own phone vibrating. He looked at Brooklyn's photo a little while longer before handing the phone back over to Nick and checking his message. “Let me know when that happens because you know I want to meet her.”

“Of course.”

From: Kurt

I'm up now.

Blaine lay down at the foot of the bed.

“What're you doing tomorrow? Promo, right?”

To: Kurt

I'm sorry for waking you. Plans tomorrow? Maybe I can take you out after work

He yawned and nodded. “Something with X-Sports and ESPN. Shouldn't take more than a few hours.”

From: Kurt

I told David and Jeff I'd ride up to UCLA and hang with them for a while. Blaze is coming, too

“Sounds fun,” Nick yawned too. They were contagious after all. “I miss the craziness sometimes but I don't think I'll ever ride again. I'm going to be taking acting seriously.”

Blaine smiled. “You're going to be the next Leo DiCaprio, huh?”

Nick nodded. “Yup. But I'll actually win an Academy Award.” He smiled when Blaine swung a pillow at him. “Ouch. It's true.”

To: Kurt

Maybe I can see you in the morning then. And I'm getting a feeling you're still mad at me

From: Kurt

Not mad. Tired. Long day, baby. Can I meet up with you tomorrow night?

“Hello?” Nick answered his phone and rolled over onto his stomach. Blaine could tell it was Jeff by his best friend's tone alone. And they called him the pathetic one.

To: Kurt

Ok. Yeah, tomorrow night works.

To: Kurt

You better not be mad at me…

To: Kurt

I can still feel you and it's making me want more.

“My dad wants to meet up with me one-on-one,” Nick said on the phone. Blaine got up to turn the lamp off and lay down next to him. His knees were still sore and he wasn't even going to discuss the dull pain in his ass.

From: Kurt

I'm going back to sleep. I was dreaming about fucking you in a pool before you interrupted me. Goodnight.

Blaine smiled and shook his head.

To: Kurt

That's not nice.

To: Kurt

Kurt. Don't say that and then stop replying.

To: Kurt

Asshole. Goodnight.

…

The next morning, Kurt wasn't so quick to wake up. He didn't know whether it was because of the stress from the day before—tests and rehearsals as well as the things he discussed with Blaine, or if it was because the sex was so good he could barely stand in the shower, but whatever the reason, he woke up exhausted.

He sent a good morning text to Blaine and the reply that came through was a picture of his boyfriend and Melody. Kurt smiled at the photo as he got ready to go hang out with the guys. The first task was his morning skincare routine, followed by an outfit selection, followed by hair doing, and he thought about at least eating cereal but food could be bought while they were out.

It wasn't long before Blaze pulled up outside. He could hear the rumble from the boy's motorcycle while he was tying his boots and smiled as he ran to get a jacket. From here to LA would be the furthest he would go riding the motorcycle his father reluctantly bought him for his 17th birthday, but Kurt was ready. He could operate any vehicle like a professional. It ran in his blood.

He hugged Blaze hello before going into the garage for his navy blue motorcycle. He smiled at the autograph on his helmet—he made Blaine sign it for him, teasing that one day he'd sell it on eBay for tens of thousands. It was then that Kurt realized he hated being in tense predicaments with Blaine even more… he couldn't go five minutes without thinking of something beautiful that happened between them at some point. Of course he could text Blaine if he wanted to, but he didn't know how he felt about everything that happened. Besides that, Blaine would be busy with Donald working to promote his appearance at the Recon Tour.

It wasn't long before Blaze and Kurt were riding their bikes on the highway up to Los Angeles. After an hour, they pulled into David's campus and parked outside his dorm building. UCLA was beautiful—probably like this year round, too. But Kurt would trade sunny SoCal for the grimy, city streets of New York in a heartbeat.

It didn't take long for Jeff to come running out with Justin shortly behind him—something that made Kurt squeal as he pulled off his helmet and ran over.

“I thought you were staying in Ohio until Blaine got there on Friday!” Kurt hugged him tightly and Justin laughed as he tried to breathe.

“I was going to but my sister asked me to come home. Something about dad… I'll be there later,” he said, looking at Kurt when he pulled back. “You have helmet hair.”

Jeff slapped five with Blaze as he held his skateboard in the other hand. “I guess I'm invisible.”

Kurt smiled as he tried to fix his hair, turning around and going to kiss Jeff on the cheek. “You're never invisible, Jeffrey. Sorry.”

“I didn't even know you still existed,” Justin said to Blaze with a smile. “What's up, man?” they shared a quick hug and Blaze pulled back, shrugging.

“I know… Sorry, but you know me, focusing on school. Music and sports are keeping me busy even though I'm not starting on the team yet.”

Jeff dropped the skateboard and hopped up on it. “Well you are a freshman. Give it a couple years.”

“Exactly,” Blaze laughed and put his helmet down on his motorcycle seat. “Anyway, what's up with you guys? Why isn't anyone competing any more except for Blaine?”

“And where's David?” Kurt asked, looking around campus and up at the tall dorm building.

“Pretty Boy is still getting ready,” Jeff shook his head. “But usually none of us compete during the school year, but since Blaine's doing so well and people are throwing money at him to endorse their products, his uncle decided maybe he could handle the responsibility.”

Blaze nodded. “I'm happy he's doing well.”

“Do you two talk at all?” Justin asked. “I mean… since your whole brotastic reunion?”

Kurt looked at his friend as he shook his head no. “I do a bad job of keeping in touch with people,” Blaze admitted. He smiled at Kurt who gave him an obvious look. “But I'll try to do better.”

David walked outside with a wide smile on his face, putting his shades on. “Beautiful day, fellas. Beautiful day. There's a 20% off sale at Bloomingdales on all duffle bags over $500!”

Justin rolled his eyes as he pulled out his car keys. “You have to be a prostitute because there's no way you have that much money to spend on a fucking bag.”

Kurt hugged David hello and laughed at Justin's mumbling. “He's buying a bag for me. Don't be silly.”

…

After a few hours of shopping and hanging out in LA, touring the city and meeting some really strange people, Kurt found himself walking down La Cienega Blvd. He hadn't meant to be so uninvolved in the day's festivities but he really was tired and honestly he missed Blaine. Justin asked him 100 times what was bothering him, and David asked 101, but it was Jeff who got him to crack.

“You should take your arm from around me,” Kurt told the skater, looking around at the stores they passed. “I don't want someone to take a picture of us and then say I'm cheating on Blaine. He's sensitive to that stuff nowadays.”

Jeff chewed on his Air Head candy and swallowed before looking at Kurt. “I'm sorry… what?”

Blaze smiled at the girls walking by, shaking his head when they giggled. He faced Kurt and Jeff and arched an eyebrow. “Please say this has nothing to do with those dumbass articles I've seen on gossip sites only 13 year-olds read.”

David looked inside of his Bloomingdale's shopping bag to check for his receipt. When he saw it he added his comment. “I have to say, a lot of people at UCLA read those sites. I heard some whispers about Kurt and Blaine after the articles but mostly people saying the blog posters were full of shit. I don't see the big deal.”

Jeff moved his arm from around Kurt as they crossed the street. “Neither do I, but I'm guessing there's a big deal here?”

They ended up back in front of the SUV and Kurt leant against it instead of getting in. “You guys know Prestige Models?”

David nodded like it was the most obvious thing. “They're the agents for Tyson Paige, Mathias Lauridsen… they used to represent Joan Smalls and you've seen how she blew up.”

Blaze simply shrugged. “I guess they're pretty good… what about them?”

Kurt stared at Blaze before sighing, wondering if he should say anything at all. Justin looked at Kurt and cleared his throat as he waited for an answer.

“Earth to Kurt.”

“Alright,” he looked up at the bright sky. “After Blaine and I were photographed together, a man from Prestige named Andrew Darby reached out to me via email. He says he wants to offer me a modeling contract and that I should get back to him.”

Jeff nodded, eyes going a little wide. “Wow. That's pretty awesome. And what did they say when you got back to them?”

David's mouth was dropped. “Think about all the free shit you can get now! Think about all the free shit you can get me now!”

“Hold your horses.” Kurt laughed and shook his head as Justin leant on the truck next to him, their shoulders touching. “I never called him. I actually neglected to mention it to anyone at all because with everything going on… school, working with my dad, rehearsing for recitals and the college anxiety—”

“Sexting Blaine in class,” Jeff added for him. “And holding your book bag over your lap like no one knows what's going on.”

Kurt stared at him. Blaze smiled.

“Jesus.”

“Whatever it is, it doesn't matter now,” David said. “I mean I get that you had a lot on your plate but dude, this is Prestige. Think about all of the people that started out as models and then branched out into other things like acting, singing…”

Justin hummed and nodded. “There's something he isn't telling us though.”

Kurt bit his lip. “Well.”

“Is that why you're such a Debbie Downer today?” Jeff asked with a smile. “Oh my god. Your dad doesn't want you to do it…”

“Why wouldn't Burt want him to do it?” David asked. “Burt loves fashion.”

Kurt rolled his eyes. “Blaine's the one who's against this.”

Everyone went quiet. Blaze folded his arms and looked like he found that pretty believable.

“Wait…” Jeff pushed back his hair, knowing he needed to cut it soon. “Blaine doesn't want you to model? Why not? You'd think he'd be all over that.”

“Is it because girls are going to hang your pictures up on their walls and touch themselves at night?” Justin asked seriously. “And boys, too.”

“That's not it,” Kurt shook his head and stood up straight. “I … he gave me a few reasons but mostly because he doesn't want it to mess up our relationship.”

They fell quiet again as the wealthy people of Beverly Hills walked up and down La Cienega Boulevard around them. Someone's phone began to ring but whoever it belonged to ignored it… Kurt thought it was Jeff's. Hopefully Nick wasn't calling. “Don't all respond at once?”

David licked his lips and looked off down the block. “I'm going to speak for myself when I say that's utter bullshit.”

Justin looked away too. “I'm not getting into this.”

“We should let them handle it,” Jeff said. “I mean, I don't like the idea of you not doing something you want to because of your boyfriend but Blaine's my friend so I want to get his side of this.”

“Does his side matter?” David asked.

“I think,” Justin began. “If Kurt said that he didn't want Blaine doing something, he wouldn't do it.”

Blaze looked at all of them. “I didn't ride for hours just to watch you guys argue over this.”

“I actually have asked Blaine not to do something he likes,” Kurt told them. “Because I thought that if he competed during the school year he'd fuck up with his classes and then I'd be in New York while he stayed here for summer school. But so far he's doing great—”

“Come on,” David pulled out his cell phone. “We're taking a headshot right now.”

Kurt opened his mouth to respond and then closed it again, Justin turning to look at him. “I –no. My hair's a mess—”

“We're taking the picture and then we're driving you to Prestige and you're going to apply.”

Jeff shook his head. “This won't end well.”

“Then,” David continued, ignoring the skeptics. “You'll have your father sign a consent form and you're going to model in the fashion industry. Blaine's going to see it and be proud.”

Kurt looked at Blaze who was quiet. The teen shrugged as he paced back and forth. “If you want my opinion, you should let Blaine know you're going to do it. Don't blindside him,” Blaze said.

David nodded. “As long as you do it. Shit,” he walked over to Kurt and began to fix the collar of his shirt, “if you let Blaine tell you that you can't do something because if you do it'll ruin you guys, then he'll say that all throughout your relationship. It's not fair.”

Justin nodded before standing up. “I think it would be awesome seeing you succeed, Kurt. But it scares me to think of you two arguing…”

Kurt looked down at the tattoo on his ring finger—Blaine's name written there. He thought for a moment. Did he like that his boyfriend wanted to stop him from doing this? No. Did he want to go behind his back and do it anyway? Not at all. But, they were in Los Angeles. Kurt deserved to at least meet up with this guy and see what he was all about. Blaine would most likely end up loving the photos anyway, because he was Blaine and he was totally supportive.

God, he hated fighting with him.

He stood up straight and looked at David's camera, smiling a little bit.

“No smiling,” David held the phone up, aimed at Kurt, swatting with his hand so Jeff would move out of the frame. “Look serious. A little seductive, a little teasing.”

Kurt thought about how to do that for a moment and made a face in response.

“You look like you have gas,” Blaze told him. Jeff snorted.

“Maybe I'm not going to be good at this after all.” Kurt leant back against the car. “I probably shouldn't even be doing it.”

Justin rolled his eyes. “Just… give us sultry. You can do sultry.”

David nodded. “Pretend we are all huge containers of Yoplait Greek Yogurt.”

Kurt laughed before shaking his head, but when he straightened up, he gave David just the look they were asking for.

Jeff smiled. “Hot.”

“Ok,” David took a couple. “We'll stop at Walgreens to print these and then we'll head to Prestige. Call Darby and let him know we're on our way.”

…

“So you're Anderson,” one of the guys at the photo shoot said. Blaine didn't know his name, but he had seen him before. “You're the one with the new boyfriend.”

There were only about 15 BMX stars here out of the many that were competing. Blaine was the youngest to be in Recon Tour, and he was the one who was getting the most judgmental looks. Everyone more than likely knew of him because of his dating Kurt rather than his success in Long Beach.

“That's me,” he said.

The guy smiled as the photographer snapped their picture. “Okay. Congrats, I guess…”

“Thanks.”

Another rider looked over at Blaine before facing the camera again. His name was Todd Kingston and everyone projected him to be the winner. He was 24 and had quite a few titles under his belt. “So you were serious when you told those reporters you're dating him? Wow. I thought it was a joke.”

“Alright, guys. In front of the Recon Tour backdrop now, please.”

Blaine walked over to the backdrop as a lady ran over to fix his curls. They told him his hair was unruly and he needed lots of spray. It was fucking annoying, but not any more annoying than the people around him were being.

“You didn't hear my question, Brian?”

Blaine looked over at the tall red head. “My name is Blaine. And I heard you. I'm choosing to ignore you.”

Todd looked at the other riders around him as they laughed, and he smiled. “The rookie has spunk.” He turned back to Blaine. “I like you, kid. Not like you like cock… but I mean I like you. You're entertaining.”

Blaine faced the cameraman. “Yeah. Whatever.”

Todd laughed with those around him as the camera started to flash. One of the directors came over with a production assistant and tried to adjust the man's vest. “We're about to do the one-on-one promo photos for the competition,” the director said. “Blaine, you'll be up first since your manager has to get you to your ESPN interview in a little while.” They decided whatever was wrong with Todd's vest was fine now and the lady looked at Blaine. “That means you won't have as many frames as everyone else, but you're a handsome guy. You can make it work.”

Blaine nodded, unaffected by it all. The director walked off and the photographer shouted some directives at them.

“ESPN interview… nice,” Todd said. “I have a feeling they'll talk to you more about you being gay than about anything you can do on the vert… Way to take attention away from us, kid.”

“And it must be nice having a legend like Donald Kinsella for a manager,” the one Blaine didn't really know said. “You can ride on his back and get into huge competitions like these. Heavens knows you're not good enough to ride with the big boys, Blake.”

Blaine tried to ignore him, doing what the photographer instructed. He folded his arms over his chest and looked straight ahead when Todd stood in front of him like he wasn't even there. The camera flashed and Blaine rolled his eyes, nudging the taller man over.

“Excuse me. Watch we're you're standing.”

Todd stumbled back into another guy and laughed. “Sorry, bro.”

“Focus!” The director clapped her hands until all the riders looked forward. Blaine exhaled hard, unclenching his fists. “We're doing a few more shots of you and then you guys can take 15 but I need you to be a little bit more mature. Is that possible?”

The guys all nodded and Blaine tried his best to ignore everyone around him, looking at the photographer for instruction. The man bent down on one knee and took another shot as all the bikers did their poses.

“Nice tattoo…” the guy said this time.

Blaine looked over at him. “What's your name?”

He smirked. “Jamie…”

“Well can you please shut the fuck up?”

Todd snorted, putting both hands in his pockets.

“Soften up your face,” the photographer shouted before snapping another photo. Blaine nodded to him and relaxed.

“It's probably hard to not be tense when your ass is in pain,” Craig George, the guy who'd come in third place last year, whispered.

Blaine turned and walked over to him, pushing Todd out of the way. The guys laughed as Craig and Blaine stood in front of each other, toe to toe. As the production assistant and photographer ran over to break it up, Blaine smirked.

“It's going to be so much fun destroying all of you at Recon. All of you.”

“You're adorable. Go run off to your uncle—”

“No one even knows who you are so you can shut the fuck up,” Blaine said, walking off towards where the security guard was escorting him.

“We honestly wouldn't know who you were if you hadn't admitted you were a fag, Brian!”

The director could be heard in the background saying something but Blaine was disinterested, looking for his uncle so he could take these final few solo pictures and get the fuck out of here. He wasn't in the mood to do any interviews. He wasn't in the mood to be anywhere but in his room, dead to the world. The security guard placed a hand on his shoulder and led him into the green room area, pointing inside. Blaine fixed his shirt and walked over to where his uncle was seated, having a conversation with a couple other guys.

“What's wrong with you?” Don asked when he walked over.

Blaine shook his head no. “I'm done in there. I have to do solo promotion shots now.”

Don stared at him for a while before standing to his feet. “Ok. Well are you ready?”

Blaine nodded.

Don excused himself from the group and nodded for Blaine to walk ahead of him. “You don't look your happiest today.”

“I'm fine,” Blaine told him. He headed over to the set where he'd work one-on-one with another photographer and grabbed a bottle of water. “Just can't wait until this competition is done with.”

“You'll do great.” Don rubbed his back and patted it for good measure. He watched Blaine take a long gulp and smiled. “You're stressed though. After a good night's rest you'll be fine. Cool?”

Blaine nodded. “Yeah.”

…

To: Blaine

I haven't heard from you… I don't mean to text so much but I'm wondering if we're still on for tonight.

To: Blaine

If you text me back and I don't reply, just call. I probably fell asleep. Or you can come over when you get the chance. Hope your day went ok, babe.

Kurt put the phone down on the couch next to him and leant back, letting his eyes close. Diesel jumped up onto the sofa and put his head in Kurt's lap, and Kurt didn't bother to tell him to get down. He was too tired for that.

His father sat in his recliner looking over the contract Kurt and his friends presented him with at the shop earlier that evening. He didn't know how he felt about his son being in any type of industry at his age. Sure, 17 was pretty much grown, and as Blaine often mentioned ‘we can legally get married in some states at this age, you know' Burt honestly didn't care. Technically, 17 was still a child. Kurt was still young and he still had other priorities to focus on now, school being one of them.

Even with that being said, he didn't want to deny his son the opportunity to experience it. It wasn't like Kurt would be some supermodel in Paris or Milan, he'd just be starting out with ads for a few designers. At least that's what he said he'd be starting out with first, but Kurt also explained to him earlier that there'd be room for growth if more of Prestige's clients requested him. At the end of the day, that was the goal, right?

“It doesn't say how much you'll be making here…”

Kurt opened his eyes and looked over at his father. “I'm not guaranteed to make anything just yet, dad. Basically,” he petted Diesel and sat up a little. “Prestige will represent me and book me gigs, but it's up to me to get hired by … I'll start small. K-Mart for instance.”

Burt laughed. “You in a K-Mart ad. Your mom would love that.”

Kurt sat back again. “After I book a job, then Prestige takes out their part…”

“I see here they charge you 20% and the client 20%,” Burt said. “That doesn't include taxes. So,” he looked over at his son. “That'll leave you with 60% before taxes.”

Kurt nodded. “I think walking away with 60% is the most I'll get since I'm a newbie. That's what most agencies in NY and LA offer according to David. So basically, all that depends on Prestige finding good opportunities for me, sending me places, and me being good enough for the client to be in their photo or commercial or whatever.”

His dad nodded. “David really wants this for you.”

Kurt smiled. “David wants free Burberry. But I would like to do it…” he trailed off. “Even if they're only interested in me because of who Blaine is, then so be it. I could use some experience, and the opportunity to branch off into other areas.”

Burt read through the contact again and nodded, his reading glasses on the tip of his nose. Diesel moved to try and sit on Kurt's lap and he laughed, scratching his back.

“You're way too big to be a lap dog, Deez. You know that.”

“I'll sign it.” Burt grabbed the pen from behind his ear. “But I'm going to be involved in this. When they send you anywhere… I don't care if it's a toothpaste ad or one for Macys, I want to be there. And if I think you're too good for the job they send you to, then you're not doing it. You don't need to model underwear.”

Kurt smiled tiredly. He was a lot more excited about this than he led on but he was just too sleepy to actually show it. Having his father in his corner with this was huge, though, and Kurt wanted to spend more time with the man somewhere other than at the shop and in the living room. This could be great for the both of them. “Thank you so much—” They turned their heads when the door opened and in ran Mikey, Blaine closing the door behind him. Diesel jumped off the couch and then jumped on Mikey, licking the boy's face. Burt laughed as he signed his name at the bottom of the consent sheet. “Hey, fellas.”

Blaine bent down to say hello to his dog before walking over to Kurt, kissing him hello. Kurt smiled, even though he could tell something was wrong. “Hey.”

“Hey,” he sat on the sofa next to Kurt and memories of last night made him smile a bit. God, Burt would kill them if he knew. Awkward. “Hey, Papa Bear.”

Burt dated the document and then sat it down on the table as he said hello. Kurt watched him, his eyes looking at the contract and then up again at Blaine. “How was your interview? It airs on Monday, right?”

Blaine nodded as he took his boyfriend's hand, laying his head on his shoulder. “It does. It went okay. I thought they were going to shower me with questions about my relationship but they only asked a couple questions and went on with the important stuff.”

Kurt looked down at their fingers. “Our relationship is important.”

Blaine realized what he said and shook his head. “I didn't mean it like that. I meant they asked what I came there to talk about.”

“Kurtie,” Mikey got up from the floor and walked on his knees over to where Kurt sat. “Come with us to the beach! Neal is there already.”

“Oh yeah,” Blaine sat up. “We're going to the beach. There's a pretty cool firework show and Cooper and Jasmine are doing BBQ.”

Kurt looked at the time. “It's 9 at night…”

“You go ahead. I'm going to look over this contract some for loopholes I may've missed and decide whether or not I should rip it up.”

Blaine looked at the paperwork, about to ask what the contract was for when Kurt stood up, pulling him with him. He found his eyes focused on lips that were moving in to kiss him and kissed back, watching as Kurt told Mikey to get Diesel's leash. “You can tell me about your day and why you haven't been returning my texts.”

Blaine smiled. “My day was filled with idiots.” He said goodbye to Burt who was on his way to the kitchen with Mikey who wanted ‘a Jell-O cup for the road' and started to walk with Kurt to the door. “I'd much rather hear how things went with Blaze… oh and Justin texted me before my phone died earlier to let me know he was back… and that I should ask you how your day went. That part was weird but. Yeah. How'd your day go?”

Kurt tensed a bit at what Blaine said as he got Diesel's leash himself. Mikey was no help. The dog sat patiently in front of him as he attached it to his purple collar. “Well we had fun and it was nice that Justin surprised us by showing up. Did some shopping, you know. The usual.”

Blaine yawned and took the leash from his boyfriend. “Wish I could've joined you guys instead.”

Kurt opened the door as Mikey came out with his snack and a plastic spoon. He called out goodbye to his dad and they all walked out together. As always, Diesel tried to speed off ahead of them but Blaine held onto the leash tightly, making him calm it down a bit. They got to the end of the block when Kurt took both Mikey's free hand and Blaine's free hand. “You should tell me how it went at some point.”

The crossed the street and Blaine waited for Diesel to do his investigation of every tree they walked by before pulling him along. “Let's just say if I don't win this competition, I'm going to be highly, highly disappointed in myself.”

“You're going to kick butt,” Mikey said. Kurt smiled and looked over at Blaine, nodding in agreement. “I'm taking little man's side on this one.”

Blaine smiled. “You always take his side.”

Mikey walked just a little ahead of them next to Diesel. He petted the dog as they went down the quiet block, jumping a little when fireworks went off not too far away and lit up the sky. Blaine smiled at him, looking up at the beautiful colors and squeezing Kurt's hand a little tighter.

“So are we ok?” Blaine asked.

Kurt looked away from the fireworks and smiled at his boyfriend. You can just mention that you're going to do the modeling with Prestige. The contract isn't even long-term. “We're good.”

Blaine smiled. “Good.”

…

Hey, Kurt. This is Andrew Darby with Prestige Models. I'm sorry for calling so late on a Sunday. When you get the chance, give me a call back at my cell phone, 310-555-9792. I just want to follow up with you and see if you have any concerns about the contract and let you know we have a Tommy Hilfiger shoot coming up that I want to send you and another of our models out for if you're ready. Again, that's 310-555-9792.

Kurt played the message twice before putting his phone down. He placed his phone down on the dresser and lay on his stomach, looking straight ahead at the wall. Blaine was on the other side of him—he'd just snuck over like he sometimes did when he couldn't sleep, and got in bed with Kurt.

The TV was on but neither of them were watching it. Blaine was in the middle of a Fun Run 2 game on his iPhone while listening to Kiss Me by Ed Sheeran. Kurt had been sleeping on and off, but the movement on the bed from Blaine every once in a while caused him to wake up.

Their weekend went by without a hitch after the little disagreement. Kurt hoped that it would stay that way. This week was a big one for the both of them. Blaine had to be in Ohio in a few days to qualify for Quarterfinals. If he didn't get that far, he'd be a joke. (Blaine's words, not Kurt's. Never Kurt's.) Kurt had his recital on that same day and there was a lot riding on that, but even more than the recital, he was going to LA with his dad at some point the next day to finalize the deal with Prestige Models. It was a short-term contract with the option for an extension if Kurt was happy at the end of it. If not, he could walk away without issue.

The reason he was having trouble sleeping may've been because of all of that. He was afraid he'd get stressed out and then start to break out. That wasn't an option. As he closed his eyes, Kurt shivered a bit because cold hands were touching his back. He smiled after a moment when Blaine kissed his shoulder.

“You okay?”

Kurt nodded. “I'm fine. Trying to fall asleep.”

Blaine looked at the time and saw that it was late. They had school in the morning. Ugh. “I would offer to sing to you, but then I'd still be awake and I'd be all alone.”

Kurt turned back over onto his back and looked into hazel eyes staring back at him. He smiled and leant up to kiss him. “What do you propose we do?”

Blaine moved in again, close to the boy's ear. “I say you turn back onto your stomach again and let me… help you sleep.”

“Hm,” Kurt smiled. “Can I ask what you have planned?”

Blaine started to roll him over again and it wasn't long before Kurt felt lips on his shoulder. And then they were going down his spine, kissing gingerly; Blaine's hands rubbing over Kurt's bare ass. Kurt folded his arms over the pillows and closed his eyes, biting his bottom lip as he arched his back. As Blaine kissed down to the small of his back, licking in straight patterns over the smooth, pale skin there, Kurt wondered what modeling agencies thought of representing guys who often had hickeys like… everywhere.

“Blaine,” Kurt moaned, spreading his legs a little wider. Blaine groped both halves of his ass in his palms and moved his tongue from bottom to top, teasing the crack of his ass. Kurt grinded against the mattress and sighed as Blaine buried his face flickered his tongue over the hole. “God, I love you so much…”

…

From: David

How's it going?

Kurt was sitting in hair and make-up still. The guy he was with… Carl, was his name, was a professional at this. He was 20 and already had five years' experience with modeling, but what Kurt liked about him was that he wasn't snobby.

The make-up artist was s-n-o-b-b-y.

To: David

I'm at a Tommy Hilfiger shoot. Not quite sure when we'll be done, but I'm just happy they hired me!

From: David

That's my boy. Did you tell Blaine at all? He just invited me to the skate park with him & Jus… says Niff went on a date. I don't want to say something I'm not supposed to.

“You're done,” the guy doing Kurt's hair patted him on the shoulders. “I think you're going to be great. Now take your tight ass to wardrobe!”

Kurt's eyes were wide as the man flamed his way out of the room. And Kurt thought he was gay. Now, he was questioning himself.

To: David

He doesn't know anything. I'm going to surprise him with this, ok? Don't mention it, he'll be mad.

Kurt went back to the ESPN page he was on, reading about the Recon Tour promotion.

He saved the photo they had of Blaine and smiled. This was going to be his new wallpaper on everything.

Carl came back from Wardrobe in a dark jacket and a plaid pair of pants. It looked nice on him, but Kurt hoped the outfit he would make his modeling debut in would look a little bit better than that. “I'm ready to go. The photo shoot is out back.”

Kurt smiled at him and nodded. “Great. I'll go get changed and meet you out there.” He ran over to wardrobe where his father was trying to catch a basketball game on the flat screen there. The girl who worked for Hilfiger handed him an outfit and started unbuttoning Kurt's shirt.

“Um… I can handle this myself…”

“You're taking too long,” she moved down to his pants next and whipped open the belt buckle. Burt looked over at them as Kurt stood there, dumbfounded.

“Well, I can honestly say I never thought I'd see this day.”

Kurt rolled his eyes at his dad.

“Where's Blaine, anyway?”

“I thought he'd be here for sure,” the costume chick, Veronica, said. “You two are adorable.”

Kurt put his new shirt on as he stood there in his boxers. “Thank you.”

“Chop, chop.”

He buttoned faster, answering his dad. “Blaine doesn't exactly know I'm doing this. It's a surprise.”

Burt looked at Kurt as he got dressed, making an ‘if you say so' face. “Hope he likes it.”

Kurt sighed, stepping into the black pants. “Me too.”

“Ok you two,” Veronica handed Kurt his boots and gestured for them to follow her. “We're going out back for the shoot.”

Burt took his son's cell phone when Kurt handed it to him. “Go knock ‘em dead, kiddo. Try and look sexy like your old man.”

Kurt laughed. “I'll try…”

…

It was 10:17 at night. Kurt still wasn't home. He still wasn't answering his messages. Blaine gave up and went back inside the beach house. All he knew was that Burt picked Kurt up early from school and since then, there wasn't a lot of communication.

He hung out with David and Justin for a while, but both of them were acting weird. Blaine hated feeling like he was being left in the dark about something. On top of all of that, the Craig idiot was posting tweets about him. Blaine didn't have time for any of it.

He could hear his sister crying in the room next to his and wondered what Cooper was doing to her. On his way in there, his phone vibrated with a new tweet alert.

@xoSantanaxo Wow? Congrats! RT “@PrestigeModelLA: Introducing Kurt Hummel! Boyfriend of BMX star Blaine Anderson @BMXxSwag Welcome to the Team @FendiKurt #PrestigeLA”

Blaine looked at the tweet for quite some time, staring first at the words and then at the photos attached. He shook his head as he felt his face getting hot. So this was the trust they had in their perfect relationship. Blaine turned his phone off and walked into the bedroom, joining his brother and sister.

It was good to know where they stood.